British police arrest 7 in clampdown on Roma child-trafficking

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British police arrest 7 in clampdown on Roma child-trafficking

London - British police have cracked down on group accused of trafficking Roma children, arresting at least seven people and placing 28 children under police protection in a London operation, Scotland Yard said Tuesday.

There were 103 children and 52 adults present in the 16 addresses raided by officers early Tuesday in Ilford, east London, police said.

The children taken into police protection were aged between 3 and 17, and will now be asessed by child protection agencies. A 3-year- old boy was found with facial injuries and taken to hospital.

Seven adults were arrested on suspicion of assault, neglect of a child, and benefit fraud, police said.

The raids were carried out in cooperation with the Romanian authorities within a Europe-wide framework aimed at clamping down on the trafficking and exploitation of children from the Romanian Roma community.

Chief Inspector Colin Carswell, who was in charge of the operation, said its aim was to safeguard and identify victims of child trafficking.

'The trafficking and exploitation of children for forced criminality is a gross violation of their human rights ... These children are exploited by gangs and, in some cases, their own parents,' said Carswell.

Many parents were told by the gangs that they could earn money if they gave up their child to be taken abroad, he said, with children and families becoming 'entrapped as debt slaves.'

The most visible signs of the profits being sent back to Romania were the building of large houses, the purchase of expensive vehicles and the possession of large amounts of disposable cash, a Scotland Yard statement said.

The deputy mayor of London, Kit Malthouse, said the raids were a warning to the criminal networks 'that we are closing in on them.'

The successful partnership between Scotland Yard and the Romanian national police meant that the gangs would 'soon have nowhere left to hide,' said Malthouse.